Environmentalists warned on Monday 11 November that the last remaining sand dunes in Cyprus are being gradually destroyed by unauthorized development.
Excavators first entered the coastal site in Limassol, located between Governor's Beach and Lady's Mile, two weeks ago on October 28, a public holiday. Environmental groups say the timing was deliberate to avoid oversight.
The initial invasion caused residents to report it to a local TV station, which then informed environmental groups. According to CyBC, the work was carried out on a private site near the Moni power station, adjacent to public lands in the protected dune area.
Despite official letters sent to various authorities, another excavator continued excavation work on Saturday morning. The destruction included leveling, uprooting of acacia trees and other vegetation, and felling of eucalyptus trees to make way for a much-publicized tourism development project.
“Unfortunately, without government control and the introduction of legislation, this simply cannot be stopped,” Klitos Papastilianou, policy coordinator for the NGO Terra Cypria, told CyBC.
There is virtually no reliable means for the Department of Environmental Protection to respond promptly and effectively to complaints that do not result in police intervention.
“Nobody is doing anything, we have so many examples now, and this is being done deliberately,” said the head of the parliamentary environment committee, Charalambos Theopemptou, speaking on the same program.
He added that nothing has changed in this regard since the previous [Anastasiades] administration. According to him, despite the frank advertising of developers, who openly stated in many cases what exactly their construction will entail, they are inviolable, and the local administration, as well as all authorities, simply turn a blind eye to this.
“It is the policy of the state not to disturb developers.”
Although the area was declared a protected area in April 2023, the forest department has yet to declare it as state forest land, a delay Papastilianou said requires explanation. He added that restoration work, if feasible, would likely be paid for by taxpayers, citing the precedent of the Ammos tou Kamburi site.
Government-funded websites and environmental conferences, and claims about the “uniqueness and importance” of vulnerable ecosystems (in this case, sand dunes as a defense against rising sea levels and coastal erosion) ring hollow when crimes continue to be committed with impunity.
The full extent of the damage on an area of 0.6 square meters. km and the cost of potential restoration has yet to be assessed. The EU Habitats Directive 2021 identified five significant dune habitat types along a 25-kilometre stretch and recorded 59 species of wild flora, including rare sand-dwelling plants.
Source: cyprus-mail.com
